Cider makes iOS apps run on Android devices

Ever wanted to try out apps that are iOS exclusive? With Project Cider, it’s not that far off. There’s a possibility of seeing a future where app exclusivity no longer exists. More about it after the jump.

Cider is developed and designed by the Department of Computer Science at Columbia University and is basically “an operating system compatibility architecture that can run applications built for different mobile ecosystems, iOS or Android, together on the same smartphone or tablet.” It means that running Android apps on an iOS device is also possible. The goal of Cider is to tear down the walls of exclusivity with different apps and let everyone have access to them, regardless of what operating system they’re running.

Watch the demo below to see a Google Nexus 7 run apps from the two long-competing companies like they’re close partners now.

Making use of the apps’ entire functions, however, might be where it gets complicated since one of the reasons why some are exclusive is because of their patented hardware or unique software features. In short, a lot of legalities will be involved but it’s still feasible.

Although that may be the case, we’re convinced that the point of this project is to simply show that programs could work and are possible to function even across platforms. It leads us to the question: If you were to be granted to have an app that’s exclusive to a different OS, what are the top softwares would you want to try?

About the Author

Kevin Bruce Francisco

Kevin Francisco is the Senior Editor and Video Producer for YugaTech. He's a Digital Filmmaking graduate, a music junkie, and a superhero by night. Follow him on Twitter for more tech updates @kevincofrancis.

Enric

Interesting, I wonder if it doing virtualization or doing some sort of on-the-fly translation ala wine. I guessing the later, since both hardware are under ARM design and it’s a matter of getting the iOS instructions converted into Android. The lag in the page scroll and stutter in the 3d game demo seems to indicate it.

Just a hypothesis.

This app could get approved in Android, but I think this will only be available on Jailbreak for the iOS.

Benchmark

Well, I hope I could run full IOS on my Motorola Droid. Its not that I don’t like android, but for me, some ios apps is much more stable than in their android app counterpart. Just my personal experience.